Pigagus Stole The Book (Of Hippies and Other Crazy Bastards)*

The turmoil of the 60's (due, to a large extent, to the Vietnam War, but also other issues such as the Civil Rights Movement, and the Alabama Church Bombing etc.) led to many significant events/developments worldwide. For the USA, one of the most important of such phenomena was the surfacing of a bunch of lunatics who, through their persistent efforts, tried to change the American Society and its thought process, and who thus made many people re-think.

One of the most important and colorful of such people was Abbe Hoffmann who, alongwith Jerry Rubin, established the Youth International Party (Yippies). Hoffman, who was a staunch anti-war activist, often used comical and theatrical tactics to drive home his point. One such event was a mass demonstration by more than 50,000 people, who attempted to levitate The Pentagon using psychic energy. During another of his innovative protests (carried out on the 24th of August, 1967), a group of people led by him threw (from the gallery of the New York Stock Exchange) fistfuls of dollar bills down to the traders below and made them scramble to grab the bills money as fast as they could.

Hoffman and other members of the "Chicago Seven" such as Jerry Rubin, were arrested after violent confrontations of the protestors with police during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and charged with conspiracy and inciting to riot . His courtroom antics , which included appearing in judicial robes, or suggesting the judge during his sentencing to try LSD, and offering to set him up with a dealer he knew in Florida made news headlines.

His commercially successful book, "Steal This Book", considered a classic of American pop culture of the 1960s, includes advice on topics as diverse as growing marijuana, to making pipe bombs. It contains an appendix about the counterculture scene in several major American cities, and is filled with his political views: "Avoid all needle drugs--the only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon." The book's success led Hoffman to say: "It's embarrassing when you try to overthrow the government and you wind up on the Best Seller's List."

But it was not only him, who did such things. His friend and co-founder of Yippies, Jerry Rubin, was no less an activist and eccentric than he was! Rubin decided to attend Berkeley in 1964, but soon dropped out to focus on social activism, which began with his protesting the refusal of a local grocer at Berkeley to hire African Americans employees. He was one of the "Chicago Seven" to be indicted alongwith Hoffman. With ease, they managed to turn the courtroom into a circus.

Then we had the (in?)famous Allen Ginsberg, that venerable crazy man, who dared to write, "America, go fuck yourself with your atom bomb." and who coined the term, "Flower Power" (in California, in 1965) and thus leading to "Flower Children", and many others of that generation, who made America re-think. Young people like Bob Dylan, greatly influenced by Gingsberg and otehrs, wrote, "The times are a-changing". Oldy Pete Seeger sang, "Where have all the flowers gone?".

*After the article, "THE NIGHT I MET ALLEN GINSBERG: An appreciation of KEROUAC, BURROUGHS, CASSADY and the other bastards who ruined my life" that appeared in the Rolling Stone magazine. (By Johnny Depp, Rolling Stone Magazine, 07/08/99; An excerpt from "The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats: The Beat Generation and American Culture," a Rolling Stone book edited by Holly George-Warren and published by Hyperion.)

Acknowledgements: Wikipedia.Org. (Many other websites, such as Citzine.Ca, and Hippy.Com contain many interesting essays).